NBA DFS action on Wednesday, Feb. 24, locks at 7:30 p.m. EST with a nine-game main slate on Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel. SuperDraft is locking at 8:00 p.m. EST with six games. Before you lock in your lineups on Yahoo, DraftKings, FanDuel and SuperDraft, make sure to check out Awesemo’s daily fantasy basketball picks, rankings and projections. Let’s dig into some daily fantasy basketball picks, including Domantas Sabonis, Zion Williamson, John Wall and more.
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NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks, Wednesday, February 24th
Yahoo Play of the Day – John Wall: Houston Rockets at Cleveland Cavaliers
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 41.48 | DraftKings: 43.36
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 13.8% | FanDuel 11.7% | DraftKings 15.7%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $36 | FanDuel $8,500 | DraftKings $8,300
Yes, I too was disappointed after recommending Wall as the Yahoo Play of the Day on Monday. Hands down this was just a thumping placed on the Rockets by the Bulls. Wall left the game midway through the third quarter as part of his normal rotation, but that also coincided with Chicago in the midst of a 22-4 run. Houston scored the final 5 points, but they were still down 100-74 heading into the final frame. Coach Stephen Silas chose to turn the fourth quarter over to the reserves.
Utilizing game flow box scores, we can see that Wall was on track to play his typical 36-ish minutes. Most gamers are just going to see a disappointing stat line and assume there was foul trouble or a slight injury. Wall’s salary remains unchanged on Yahoo, and Wednesday’s matchup is even better. The Rockets will be squaring off against the Cavaliers, who hosted Atlanta last night. Over their last 10 games, Cleveland is allowing a league-worst 125.6 points per 100 possessions. Eric Gordon is questionable with an ankle injury suffered on Monday. Victor Oladipo has missed five of the last six games, including the last four, and is questionable with a foot injury. Regardless of the status of this duo, Wall is an excellent play on Wednesday.
Domantas Sabonis: Indiana Pacers vs. Golden State Warriors
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 48.72 | DraftKings: 51.41
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 10.0% | FanDuel 21.5% | DraftKings 8.1%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $48 | FanDuel $9,900 | DraftKings $10,500
It has been a week since we last saw the Pacers, as they lost games in Houston due to weather and against San Antonio due to health-and-safety protocol. That gave them a mini-break, which should serve them well to get some players back and their core players extra rest.
Golden State played last night in New York in a nip-and-tuck battle against the Knicks where their starters played heavy minutes. While signs point to the Pacers handling business at home, there are no guarantees. Sabonis brings a lofty salary cap hit on Wednesday, though with 18 teams in action, discount dandies should not be hard to find.
Finally, in the event the Pacers run away with this game after the first three quarters, Sabonis will likely have played a large part in compiling the lead. He is posting career highs with 36.4 minutes, 15.5 field-goal attempts, 21.5 points, 5.7 assists and 1.7 combined blocks/steals. Additionally he is corralling 11.6 rebound per game, which is seventh in the league.
Zion Williamson: New Orleans Pelicans vs. Detroit Pistons
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 40.73 | DraftKings: 40.78
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 9.0% | FanDuel 13.5% | DraftKings 3.7%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $37 | FanDuel $8,500 | DraftKings $8,800
This is a rematch from 10 days ago when the Pistons took care of the Pelicans in Detroit with an 11-point victory. New Orleans continues to play at a bottom-10 pace, but their defense has been downright dreadful over their last seven games, allowing 126.2 points per 100 possessions. On the other hand, their offense has been firing on all cylinders during this stretch, with 123.2 points per 100 possessions. That is a -3.0 net rating and has kept too many opponents in the game long enough to win. With just two victories in their last seven outings, New Orleans has slipped out of the playoff picture and are now in the mix with the play-in teams.
During this stretch, Zion Williamson has seen a heavy workload with nearly 35 minutes per appearance. Impressively, he is averaging 29.9 points and 3.9 assists per game. However his limited rebounding with just 6.0 per tilt has kept his upside in check at just 45 fantasy points per game. So why is he a core building block? Well, the salary is right, and in his last 20 games, only twice has he failed to top 35 fantasy points. This makes him a fantastic option in our cash games (head-to-heads, 50-50s, double-ups and three-mans).
Good Value
Clint Capela: Atlanta Hawks vs. Boston Celtics
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 43.16 | DraftKings: 43.32
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 27.2% | FanDuel 13.9% | DraftKings 18.2%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $33 | FanDuel $8,200 | DraftKings $7,800
Atlanta suffered a close loss in Cleveland last night 112-111, during which John Collins left with a concussion. If he is out, this should help secure upwards of 35 minutes for Clint Capela, and we already know targeting the Celtics with frontcourt players is a savvy strategy. In two previous meetings with Boston this season, Capela has averaged 31.5 minutes, 24.0 points, 14.5 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 3.5 combined blocks/steals for right around 50 fantasy points. While that is no guarantee of future performance, it is nice to see the solid recent history.
Jarrett Allen: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Houston Rockets
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 43.73 | DraftKings: 43.19
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 42.2% | FanDuel 26.5% | DraftKings 23.7%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $30 | FanDuel $7,600 | DraftKings $7,700
Houston released DeMarcus Cousins yesterday, and Christian Wood (ankle) is still at least a week away from returning to action. That means we will be looking at a Rockets frontcourt consisting of P.J. Tucker, Jae’Sean Tate, Danuel House and Rodions Kurucs. None of this motley crew have the size or athleticism to contain Jarrett Allen. Wednesday is bringing us a plethora of center options, and we are going to want to consider employing two on the DFS sites that provide that sort of roster flexibility.
Uncertain Value
San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder
The Spurs have been out of action for the last 10 days, per the health-and-safety protocols. Tonight they will be missing Rudy Gay, Derrick White, Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell and Quinndary Weatherspoon — who have yet to clear testing — along with DeMar DeRozan (personal). LaMarcus Aldridge (hip) has not seen the court in three weeks, and his status is unclear. That leaves Dejounte Murray, Lonnie Walker, Patty Mills, Jakob Poeltl, Trey Lyles, Drew Eubanks and Keita Bates-Diop. We will want to keep close tabs on the news, as we currently do not know for sure who among the available options, if anyone, was dealing with COVID-19. Over the years we have seen short-handed teams be a great source of salary cap relief. We have also seen them outclassed by their opponents and have subpar showings across the board. Fortunately, Oklahoma City is not exactly filled with defensively minded players.
Houston Rockets at Cleveland Cavaliers
Tonight Houston may be short-handed or barely able to dress eight players. As mentioned in the John Wall recommendation, this hinges on the availability of Eric Gordon (ankle) and Victor Oladipo (foot). Fortunately, they have a phenomenal matchup against Cleveland, and we at least have a pretty good idea of how the rotation will go with or without Gordon and Oladipo. They will be thin on the frontcourt, but if Gordon and/or Oladipo are out, that boosts the prospects for David Nwaba, Danuel House and Sterling Brown, all of whom are at least competent rotation players who have seen a lot of recent run.
Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball Discount Dandies
- Danilo Gallinari: ATL vs. BOS – $12
- Payton Pritchard: BOS at ATL – $11
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: LAL at UTA – $10
SuperDraft Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks
- Jerami Grant: DET at NOP – 1.30x multiplier
- Brandon Ingram: NOP vs. DET – 1.25x multiplier
- Donovan Mitchell: UTA vs. LAL – 1.25x multiplier
Final Thoughts on the Wednesday, Feb. 24 NBA DFS Slate
The only late news we may be waiting on at first tip could be the status of Gordon Hayward, who is dealing with a sore wrist. Keep in mind that salaries and scoring formats differ across the various fantasy sites, and a slam-dunk play on Yahoo may be a below-average NBA DFS pick on DraftKings or FanDuel.
